Chapter Four

“I take it everything went well with your sister.” Lucas looks up from his computer. He’s in his office, hair damp from the shower I unfortunately didn’t get to take with him. Abby stayed for nearly an hour, eating another grilled cheese while we talked.

“Very.” I cross the room, and he pushes away from his desk, scooting his chair back enough for me to sit on his lap. He’s only wearing gray sweatpants, which is sexy as fuck to me for some reason. “She’s bringing Penny to our book event at the store tomorrow.”

Lucas smiles and runs his hand through my messy hair, brushing it to the side and exposing my neck. “They’ll both have fun.”

I wrap my hands around his shoulders. “I think so.”

“She’s been trying hard the last few weeks to reconnect with you.”

“I know,” I sigh, picking up on his unspoken question. “I’d like to stay in touch with her. She is my sister, after all, and there aren’t many people who know me or the shit that—” I cut off, realizing what I’m about to say.

“I don’t know it.”

I swallow hard, well aware that Lucas can hear my heart start to race. Inhaling deep, I rest my head against his chest.

“I’ll tell you,” I whisper. “I want you to know. Just don’t…don’t judge me for it.”

“I helped you bury the same body twice. And I didn’t judge you then.”

I laugh, but it’s too high-pitched compared to my normal laugh. I’m nervous, and it’s obvious. “Well, don’t think differently of me then. Specifically, don’t pity me. I can’t stand when people do.”

“I won’t,” he promises. “And if you’re not ready to talk, I can wait. I’ve waited over a thousand years for you, what’s a few more months?”

“I love you.” I tip my head up, looking into his deep blue eyes. “You know that, right?”

“You could prove it with sex.”

This time when I laugh it’s the real thing. Lucas has that way about him. He calms my nerves. Makes me feel safe. Wanted. Loved. He’s everything I could ever want in a partner.

“Now I’m thinking about you naked.” I wiggle my eyebrows. “Do you have to go back to the bar tonight?” Proving my love to him just might take all night. We’re good like that.

“Not tonight.” In one swift movement, he stands and puts me on the desk. “Tonight, I’m all yours.” He pulls the tie on my robe and moves between my legs. I lean back, propping myself up on my elbows. Heat floods through me just by seeing the look in Lucas’s eyes, the one that lets me know he’s going to devour me, drinking from me and fucking me so hard I’m still going to feel it in the morning.

I wrap my legs around him, bringing him closer. Feeling his big cock harden against me always turns me on. Knowing he’s getting hard for me…that I’m the one he wants…

Fangs drawn, he kisses me hard before moving his mouth to my neck. His fangs graze over my skin, causing a shiver to make its way through me. My mouth falls open as a soft moan escapes my lips. My eyes close, and I slide my hands up his back, fingers digging into my skin.

He retracts his fangs and sucks at the skin on my neck, knowing what that sensation does to me. I rake my nails up his back, pressing hard. Even if I were to tear open his skin, he’d heal in seconds.

He pushes me back, sliding the robe down over one shoulder. I bring my arms back, and let the robe slip off. Lucas looks me over and draws his fangs again. He dives back on me with a growl, one hand going to the back of my head, bunching up my hair in his fist. His other hand lands on my thigh and slowly slides up toward my core.

My body hums with anticipation. I’m already wet, needing to feel his deft fingers rub over my tender clit. He lays me back on his desk and hooks his fingers around the waistband of my shorts.

His phone rings right as he starts to pull them down. Usually, we ignore any and all interruptions during sex, with the exception for demons, that is. This time, he stops and takes his hands off me, reaching for his phone.

“It’s Eliza.” He doesn’t have to explain why this could be bad. She’s FaceTiming and not just calling, which I noticed she does more often than the average human, making me think she’s being nosey and wants to see what Lucas is up to when he’s with me.

“Oh, thank God,” she ways when Lucas answers. “The VC was just here.”

Shit. My blood runs cold and nerves quickly replace all the sexy feelings that were just flooding my system.

“What did they want?” Lucas asks calmly. It takes a lot to rattle him, mostly because he’s over sixteen-hundred years old and there’s not a lot that poses a threat to him. Except me, but that’s part of my appeal, I know.

“They were asking about you know who.”

“Did you stick to the plan?”

“Yes, of course,” Eliza snaps. Her British accent gets stronger when she’s angry. “But they want to talk to you. They’re on their way over, Lucas. To your house.” Her blue eyes flash. “She’s with you, isn’t she? You need to make her leave before they discover that you’ve been—”

“Eliza,” Lucas interrupts. “Calm down. I’m not worried and you shouldn’t be either. I can handle the fucking Vampire Council. Get back in the bar. It’s Friday and we’re busy.”

“I hate you sometimes,” she snaps.

“And I always love you,” Lucas retorts, flashing his cocky grin. They have a weird relationship, one I don’t fully understand. Lucas made Eliza a vampire as a way to get revenge on her father, who ordered his army to kill as many vampires as possible.

Lucas didn’t want anything to do with her at first, but then realized how bonded they were. They’ve been together ever since, and he loves her like a sister or a daughter. Maybe both? It hurts my head if I think about it too much. All I know is he’s never once wanted her romantically, but she’s his family.

“Call me when they leave,” Eliza growls and ends the call.

“Are you in trouble?” I pull the robe back up, suddenly feeling chilled.

“Like I said, it’s nothing I can’t handle. But I do need your blood.”

“Now?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Yes. Only a small amount.”

“Uh, okay.” I extend my hand. Lucas takes it and brings my finger up to a fang. “Wait, no!”

He flicks his eyes to mine. “No?”

“Not my fingertip. Do you know how much I use my fingers? All the time. Even a paper cut takes forever to heal on your fingertip.”

“Fragile human,” he teases and moves his mouth to my forearm. He gently bites down, just breaking through my skin enough to draw blood. Instead of drinking it, he smears it around his mouth.

“What are you—” I start and then cut off, realizing what he’s doing. He’s making it look like we’ve been in here fucking and feeding and not killing high-powered members in the Vampire Council.

“Go upstairs,” he tells me, licking the puncture wounds. “And stay there. You smell like magic.”

“What about my blood on your face?” I press my fingers over the bite marks.

“Your magic is here.” He touches my chest. “Not in your blood.”

“Right,” I say and remember learning about it back in my Academy years. It’s one of the reasons that led to the War of Light and Dark. Vampires thought they’d get powers by draining witches only to realize that our powers die with us and aren’t transferred through our blood.

“Be careful,” I tell him and move off the desk. “And if you need to blow a vampire up, I’m your girl.”

He grabs me around the waist and leans in, giving me a look that says he’s going to deliver later. The doorbell rings, and Lucas takes my hand, leading me through the hall. I go up the stairs and into the master bedroom, closing the door behind me.

I rinse my arm and smear healing balm over the bite, not to tempt anyone to investigate me further from the smell of fresh blood. Then I inch toward the closed door, trying to listen, but this house is too big and I’m too far away from wherever the vampires have gathered.

Taking a step back, I hold out one hand toward the door and bring the other up to my ear. “Manga disputatio,” I whisper and channel my energy on Lucas. Different sounds of the house echo through the hand I have cupped over my ear.

“Come on,” I whisper, and think of Lucas’s handsome face. His voice comes through loud and clear.

“I apologize if we interrupted something,” a male vampire tells Lucas, though he doesn’t sound sorry at all.

“It’s nothing I can’t resume later,” Lucas says, and the other vampires laugh. “I assume you’re here on behalf of Jacob. I don’t like to be stood up, and I’m not the most forgiving vampire.”

“We’re here because of him, not on his behalf,” a female vampire says. They walk through the house, and their footsteps echo through the one-way magical telephone. “He was following our orders to meet with you and file an official report with the Council about the anti-assimilation group that’s causing trouble in the area.”

“They’ve caused me no trouble,” Lucas goes on, lying to the VC. I’m pretty sure he still has a member of that group tied up in the basement of the bar, slowly torturing information out of him. Or just for revenge.

“Then they’re smarter than we thought,” the female vampire says. “You’re the oldest vampire in Chicago. Going after you would not be wise.”

But they have gone after him, and that scares me. Because I get the feeling that group isn’t stupid. Though they did send three young vampires after Lucas…unless that was meant to set him up. They knew he’d easily kill them.

“We believe some of the vampires targeted by this group are being threatened or blackmailed into not coming forward. If they see you—the oldest and one of the most respected vampires in the area—speaking out against this, then they might too.”

The vampires move again, muffling their voices and making it hard to tell what’s being said. I know Lucas wants nothing to do with politics of any kind. He wants to find out who’s in charge of the group and handle it his way, which probably involves ripping out and crushing hearts with his bare hands, instead of it going through the vampire legal system, which functions similar to the human one.

Though they do opt for the death sentence way more often than humans do.

“Jacob’s disappearance is concerning,” the male vampire says. They stopped moving and their voices are coming in clearer again. “He’s not the only registered vampire to go missing in the last few weeks either.”

“Do you think it could be a hunter?” Lucas asks, doing a good job at playing along with this.

“It’s possible,” the male vampire replies. “There has been a new wave of hate crimes against our kind after Senator Martin’s speech.”

My fucking father.

“That might not be the only reason vampires are going missing.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas asks.

“The VC hasn’t made any official announcements yet,” the female vampire starts, “as we don’t want to put vampires on the defense. Lord knows we’re still struggling with assimilation and acceptance amongst the humans. Any sort of freak out or wrongfully accusing an innocent person would not work in our favor. Plus, we don’t want to piss them off.”

“Who?”

“Witches.”

“Witches?” Lucas echoes, sounding shocked. “In Chicago?”

“Not necessarily just in the city, but in the Midwest. We’ve gotten reports of increases in magical energy.”

“You were around during the War,” the male says.

“I didn’t take part in it,” Lucas informs him.

“You still know what they did to us. What they could do again.”

“The witches haven’t bothered us in centuries,” Lucas counters, and my hands start to shake.

“I’d like to keep it that way,” the female says. “You’re old enough to be able to tell the difference between a tree-hugging human who practices Wicca and calls herself a witch and the real deal. And if you come across one, I trust you’ll do the right thing and end them.”